Skin provides an excellent barrier to molecular transport, as the stratum corneum is the most formidable barrier to the passage of most pharmaceuticals. Various attempts have been made to improve drug administration into the body through intact skin. Though very few routes are as attractive as the topical route, drug transport through the skin is challenging. To overcome the challenges, researchers have found a system in which the drug is encapsulated into the vesicle, penetrating deeper into the skin to hit the target site. Vesicular systems like transethosome, an ultra- deformable vesicle (UDV), tend to accumulate in the skin layers. Since transethosomes have small particle size and can easily alter the shape of vesicles compared to other vesicular systems, they can penetrate through the layers of skin. Hence, the drug encapsulated into transethosomes can easily reach the target site. Transethosomes consist of ethanol and phospholipids along with an edge activator. Ethanol and edge activator help to enhance the skin permeation of transethosomes. Various methods of preparation of transethosomes, comparison of transethosomes with other lipid vesicles, characterization of transethosomes, and application of transethosomes have been covered in this review. Transethosomes can deliver a different variety of drugs, such as anticancer, corticosteroids, proteins and peptides, analgesics.
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